Climate Fair and Oxcart Parade

This coming weekend (April 24, 25 and 26) is the annual Atenas Climate Fair and oxcart parade. This is the schedule:

There will be lots going on in the central park - music, dancing, food. Everyone loves the oxcart parade - the painted wooden carts are beautiful and the oxen are amazing. Bring your camera. The parade is on Sunday starting around 11:00 am.

Here's a picture I took at a previous year's parade:

This year I donated one of my smaller oxen paintings to the boyeros (oxcart drivers) for their raffle. I hope they make lots of colones. Here is the painting:

 

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Beginning our Third Year in Costa Rica

"It was a dark and stormy night" - actually, it wasn't stormy but it was dark and raining. Two years ago, on May 31, 2011, at 8:30 pm, our plane landed at Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela, Costa Rica. We set foot on Costa Rican soil for the first time ever and thus began our adventure of living in a new country with a new language and new culture.

We knew no one but had a San José hotel booked, our immigration lawyer selected, our cat boarding with an excellent vet in Santa Ana, we knew the town we wanted to live in to start with (Atenas), six suitcases and were eager to start this exciting new chapter in our lives. We had left Vancouver, B.C., but had arranged it so we could easily return there if we decided Costa Rica was not for us.

Looking back on the past two years, we are very happy we made this decision to relocate here. Costa Rica suits us well. It is incredibly beautiful, of course, and the Ticos (as the Costa Ricans call themselves) are truly wonderful people - welcoming, generous, content, hardworking, innovative. I think they have the capacity to enjoy life more than many others. The tropical weather is another attraction, as are the incredible numbers of plant, bird and animal life here. The abundance of year 'round fresh fruits and vegetables is another plus. We have lots of seafood from the two coasts - the Pacific and the Caribbean.

We still have so much to see of this country but have been delaying any trips of more than a few hours because of our elderly cat, Genny. With failing kidneys, she needs to be monitored to ensure she is eating and drinking lots of water. We don't mind - this is all part of the responsibility of pet ownership. Costa Rica will always be here.

Chile and Equador are two other countries that we hope to visit one day and of course now we are perfectly positioned to do that.

I often think that, if we had not done this two years ago, we would still be sitting in Canada saying to each other, "We really should try this". Time passes by and, in the blink of an eye, it is too late to try anything except the next insipid meal at the rest home.

In the past two years, we have made many friends, both expats and Ticos. Yesterday, we received an invitation to a Tico wedding in November and are really looking forward to this new experience. The network of expats in Atenas and neighbouring towns is exemplary. We share information about where to find different foods, butchers, doctors, dentists, gardeners, vets, the lady who does clothing alterations, new restaurants, when a road is closed or when it has reopened, etc.

There is a Facebook page entitled "Atenas Costa Rica Info" where information is shared. It is open to the public and is interesting reading for those thinking of relocating to our small town.

I heard a phrase the other day that sums up what we and other adventuresome types have done. It is "Life Reimagined".

Boyero with Oxcart Team, Atenas, 2013

 

 

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The Trail of the Oxcarts

The other day, I finally went and took photos of the Atenas boyero monument. This iron statue is situated on the right side of highway 3, about 1.6 km before the turn into Atenas.

This monument is dedicated to the hard work of the boyeros. Highway 3 is the old oxcart trail that used to lead to Puntarenas.

We've Been Busy

The time just seems to fly by. Looking at my calendar, we met up with friends on January 20 and they drove us around to Grecia and Sarchi, towns we had not yet been to.

Grecia is a town I want to go back to and explore a bit more. It's the capital city of the canton of Grecia in the province of Alajuela (thank you, Wiki). We stopped and saw the church (Iglesia de la Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes) and the park. Wiki has a lot of good information on this church - very interesting.

Then on to Sarchi,  home of the world's largest oxcart (carreta), and famous for crafts and locally made furniture. We stopped at one of the tourist souvenir places - it even had a carreta with two oxen and a boyero (oxcart driver) so the tourists could take photos. Lance bought a map and, when paying for it with colones, was asked by a bus tourist, "What kind of money is that?" Ha! why, it's the currency of Costa Rica! and we use it all the time. Everything in this shop was priced in USD so I guess these tourists just get on and off the buses, visit the tourist places, pay in USD, and that's it.

We found a really good soda in Sarchi, where we had lunch. Across the street was an ice cream shop so we had to visit it, of course. I tried to order a bebida de frutas mixtas (mixed fruit drink) but ended up with a plate of mixed fruit. Oh well, I'll know better next time. It was still really good fruit.

It is so much fun exploring all the roads, seeing new towns and we are so fortunate to have such great friends.

Oxcart in Sarchi.

The church in Grecia.

Pizza Mangia in Sarchi - you must try this place. We ordered fish casados and an arroz plate.
Lance, Diana and the owner of Pizza Mangia.